Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The central political power in Rome was the senate. It was hierarchically organised.
The decisions made by the senate were effectively decided only by those senators
who had previously held the highest offices as well as the biggest number of offices.
So it was the ambition of a young Roman to get as far on the Cursus Honorum, the
prescribed sequential order of public offices, as possible.
Cursus Honorum
05 To the top
In theory, the possibility to begin a political career with the
office of quaestor was open to every Roman. Once you
climbed higher on the ladder of success, the available
positions became scarcer. The first obstacle, however, were
the financial costs: To win the electorate’s favour and increase
chances on an election victory, candidates spent enormous
sums of money. It took many years before those who had
made it to the office of praetor could even begin to hope
that their power as policymaker in Rome or governor of a
province would eventually enable them to pay off their
debts. The system was practically predetermined to force
ambitious men into abusing their office and exploiting their
subjects.
10 Power is visible
Outside the sacred boundary of the city of Rome, lictors also
carried axes inside the fasces. They served as reminder that,
in the state of war, consuls had the right to have even Roman
citizens executed.
11 Strength in unity
The ancient Roman fasces (bundle of wooden rods) have
been used since then until the modern times. Not only
Napoleon made use of them but also the followers of Benito
Mussolini.
13 No mon, no fun
Only the wealthiest Roman citizens could afford a political
career as the inferior offices of the Cursus Honorum were not
rewarded financially. A young candidate running for one of
the offices needed to use his money strategically. One
possibility for a candidate was taking on a priestly office and,
in this function, entertaining the Roman people royally. Those
who had made it far enough to be aediles could ingratiate
themselves with the people by generously topping up the
budget of the games, which they were responsible for, with
private funds.